Computing nodes (also referred to herein simply as “nodes”) of a distributed computing system communicate over a communication network. Such computing nodes can be computing systems that each include at least one programmable processor. A distributed system can, in a non-limiting example, be a plurality of computing nodes that implement a distributed data storage application or any other kind of application in which exchange of messages, data, or the like between nodes occurs to enable replication of a state machine of the application between a plurality of replicas such that the replicas remain synchronized with regard to processes being executed by the distributed computing system. A process as used herein refers generally to any kind of data processing, data storage, or other computer-implemented process. A communication network can include one or more of a wired network, a wireless network, a local area network, a wide area network, an organization's intranet, the Internet, or the like. Typically, nodes in a distributed system use consensus protocols to coordinate replication of data among replicas maintained on several computing nodes of the distributed computing system to enable continued operation in case of a failure of one or more of the computing nodes. Other computing nodes of a plurality of computing nodes besides a computing node being referenced are generally referred to as “peer computing nodes” or simply “peers” of the computing node.